Introduction
Hi! I’m Max, a professional career coach.
So you’re looking to climb in your career, eh? Good. You’re in the right place today.
Make no mistake about it, earning a promotion, particularly in high-performing workplaces is an incredibly competitive enterprise. Today’s reading will be focused on the foundational components to earning a promotion that have come from my time working with deeply ambitious professionals.
Don’t forget, a simple strategy powerfully executed will always trump a complicated strategy executed poorly. So if you’re committed, follow this strategy closely.
Component Number One) Significantly Overperform In Your Current Role
This goes without saying. But this cannot be overstated. By the time you are seeking a promotion, you should be able to hold your hand on your heart and see that you are significantly overperforming in your role, and yes this would also include outperforming your fellow colleagues who are also fighting for a promotion.
A key additional piece to this is try to make your boss’ life as easy as possible, make his or her life in the context of your role seamless. Someone in your boss’ position has a lot on their plate, and by making their lives as easy as possible, this will put you in a significant advantage. Here are three metrics to use to know if you’re ready to apply for that promotion.
- Your KPIs, are you significantly overperforming in all these metrics?
- Regarding the notes from your last performance review, are you going above and beyond to ensure that the notes you received are being actioned?
- Your fellow colleagues, are you significantly outshining them in your job performance?
If upon reflecting on these questions, your answer is ‘no’ to one or more of them, speak to someone within your organization and ask in a polite but direct way what you would need to do to meet these targets.
However, if upon reflecting on these questions, your answer is ‘yes’ to all of these, let’s go further with this.
Component Number Two) Perception Is Reality
How we perceive other human beings is our experience of them. Period.
This is actually a far more profound statement than one would first realize. But for the purposes of your professional advancement, drill this statement into your mind. So, to deepen this understanding, follow this line of reasoning closely here. The decision to promote you or someone else is based on the perceptions that the decision maker(s) have of you and them. Therefore, the question becomes, how are you being perceived by those people? And don’t be so sure you know the answer right away.
Take a moment, and put yourself in the shoes of your boss, how do they perceive you? How do they REALLY perceive you? Take a moment to understand how your boss thinks, not in a judgemental way, but in a way that deepens your understanding of them. Actually do this.
Now ask yourself, if I was my boss, what would I want to see (insert your name) do to earn this promotion? This right here is the golden nugget. Does your boss really believe that you are senior management material? If the answer is no, why not?
Here was a good success story from a recent client I worked with, he was attempting to move into a managerial position and after working with me he very strategically mentioned to his boss in an off-the-cuff sort of way that he had enrolled in multiple managerial courses to learn the skills and wanted to ask his boss advice on what he had learned. His boss responded and gave his perspective, and that opened a casual dialogue about what life was like in a managerial position, to which the conversation closed with a clear statement from my client to his boss that he was interested in the upcoming promotion.
He got the promotion. Job done as far as I was concerned as his coach.
Of course, this was not the only factor, but the promotion could never have happened unless his boss had begun perceiving him as a manager.
Perception is reality. Never forget that.
Component Number Three) Begin Taking Initiative
This goes hand in hand with our previous two components, but there are specifics here that can’t be missed for today’s reading.
If you are overperforming in your current role, and you have expressed your intention to earn the promotional position, now let’s focus on a third component to tip the scales further in your direction. Again, we must keep in mind that perception is reality, so we need to create the correct perception for the decision-makers. And one way to do this is to begin by asking yourself, what are small things that I can begin taking on that will further create this perception?
Examples may include:
- Offering to take on extra responsibility, even if it is unpaid, and expressing the reason for taking this on is because you want to learn more deeply about the business.
- Ensuring the decision makers see you as being the last to leave the office each day. Stay late to overachieve in your role even more.
- Asking to sit in on meetings for the sake of understanding the business further.
As is said in the personal development classic “Think & Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill – the habit of doing more than what one is paid for is a winner’s quality.
Show your passion, show your intention. But it must be authentic.
In conclusion, tailor today’s reading to your professional circumstances, but never be afraid of going after what you want.
If you are truly seeking the next level of your professional development, reach out to me! Let’s ensure this happens for you. Book yourself a complimentary 30-minute conversation.
Max. Career Coach.
